Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-08-19
Awful Railroad Wreck Near Chats
worth. Ill.-An Excursion Train
Goes Through Burning
Bridge.
One Hundred and Eighteen Lives Lost
Three or Pour Hundred Persons
More or Less Injured.
Miscreants Rob the Dead and DYING
Suspicion that the Wreck was
Caused by Robbers.

CHICAGO, Aug. 11.-More than a hun
dred lives were lost in a railroad accident
which occurred near Chat3 worth, in this
state, at an early hour this morning. The
following details of the catastro phs are
given in a special to the Times from For
est, ILL.,: All the railway horrors in the
history of this country were surpassed
three miles east of Chatsworth last ME ht.
when an excursion train oa the Toledo.
Peoria Western road dropped through
burning bridge, and over one hundred
people were killed, and four times that
number more or less badly injured. The
train was composed of six sleeping cars,
six day coaches and chair and three bag
gage cars. 1t was carrying $50 passen-
gers, all excursionists, and was bound for
Niagara falls. The train had been made
up all along the line of the Toledo,
Peoria & Western road, and the excur-
sionists hailed from various points in
central Illinois, the bulk of them, how
ever, coming from Peoria. Some of the
passengers came from Canton, from Ell
Paso, Washington, and, in fact, all sta
tions along the line; some as far west as
Burlington and Keokuk, Ia. A special
and cheap rate had been made for the ex-
scursior, and all sorts of people took ad-
vantage of it. When the train drew cut
from Peoria, at 8 o'clock last evening, it
was loaded to its utmost capacity. Every
birth in the six sleepers was taken and
the day cars carried sixty people each.
The train was so heavy that two engines
were hitched to it and when it passed this
plac" it was two hours and a half behind
time. Chatsworth, the next station east
of here, is six miles off, and the run there
was made in seven minutes, SO the ter
rible momentum of those fifteen coaches
and two heavy engines, shooting through
space at the rate of mile minute can
be understood.
RUSHING TO DEATH.
No stop was made at Chatsworth and
on and on the heavy train with its living
freight sped through the darkness of
night. Three miles east of Chatsworth
is little slough and where the railroad
track crosses dry run ten feet deep and
fifteen feet wide. Over this was stretched
an ordinary wooden trestle bridge and as
the excursion train came laundering
down on it, what was the horror of the
engineer on the front engine when he
saw that this bridge was afre. Right up
before his eyes leaped the bright flames
anu Ihc hcAS no was dulOuR Un6n.
There was no chance to stop. Had there
been warning it would have taken half
a mile to stop that on-rushing mass of
wood, iron and humanity and the train
was within one hundxi .2rds of the red
tongued messengers of death before they
flashed their fatal signals into the engi
neer's face. But he passed in safety, the
first engine keeping the rails. As it
went over, the bridge fell beneath it,
and it could only have been the terrific
speed of the train which saved the lives
of the engineer and his fireman. But
the next engine went down and instantly
the deed of death was done. Car crash
ed into car; coaches piled one on top of
the other and in the twinkling of an eye
nearly one hundred people found instant
death and fifty more were so hurt they
could not live. As for the wounded, they
were everywhere. Only the sleeping
coaches escaped, and as the startled and
half-dressed passengers came tumbling
out of them they found such scene of
death as is rarely witnessed, and such
work to do, that it seemed as if human
hands were utterly incapable.